Fever Pitch
by babygiraffe
Summary: AU. Based on the movie Fever Pitch. Peeta's been obsessed with baseball since he was seven years old, but when he meets Katniss, he's forced to make a choice-the girl of his dreams or his childhood team? Rated M for later content/language.
1. Chapter 1

_"People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring."-__Rogers Hornsby_

* * *

_October 28, 2011_

"You could have gotten over right there. Come on, you gotta be aggressive, man. Take off the training wheels."

Peeta Mellark just rolled his eyes at his young students' remark.

"Hey, I got a crowbar under the seat, okay? So don't make me knock your teeth out."

Jackson just laughed, leaning back against the old leather seat in the back of Peeta's run down Toyota 4-Runner. Peeta was driving four of his best English students to Snow Publishers, one of the country's most successful publishing companies, and certainly the most successful on the West Coast.

"What are you doing?" he asked the two girls sitting on either side of Jackson. "Rue, Cecelia, are you guys talking to each other on the phone?"

"We're conferencing Leevy, she's home sick. Leevy likes that song, Mr. Mellark. Can you turn it up, please?"

Peeta shook his head while turning up the volume on the radio, smiling slightly as he did so.

Once they had finally reached the parking lot of the company, everyone piled out of the SUV.

"Alright, you guys, let's be on our best behavior today, okay?"

"Come on, Mr. M! Have a little faith in us!"

Peeta smiled at Mitchell's passionate remark.

"You got it."

The little group walked up to the impossibly tall building, following Peeta inside. A receptionist at the front desk led them to the elevator and pushed the button for the 20th floor, where they were to meet with the editor that Peeta had spoken to over the phone.

He and his students were all impressed as they rode up the large elevator that carried them to the 20th floor. The glass elevator offered a fascinating view of the city around them as they skyrocketed to the top of the building.

Once they had finally reached the 20th floor, they headed back through a throng of different cubicles and offices, until they reached a door with a gold plaque on the outside that read: _Katniss Everdeen: Editor In-Chief. _

Peeta didn't know exactly what her title meant or where that ranked her in terms of importance in the company, but he did know that she was probably important.

"Katniss will be ready to see you shortly. Madge will be out to collect you in a few moments."

* * *

"Okay, so I asked for no ham, double turkey, but it looks like they gave me double ham. Do you want me to go back?"

Katniss Everdeen looked up to see her secretary, Madge Undersee popping the lid off of a salad container, ready to give to her boss. The office building's cafeteria was notorious for mixing up orders, and many of Snow Publishers' employees had fallen victim to the confusion.

"No, that's okay. Just toss some of it in my mouth," she joked, shuffling through the mountain of papers littering her desk.

"Okay. Oh, and I almost forgot…that teacher's here with those kids."

"What? What teacher?" Katniss asked exasperatedly.

"That teacher you talked to on the phone, about coming in, having a tour of the place…" Madge trailed off.

"Oh God, that's today?"

"Yeah, they're here."

"Oh, no," Katniss moaned, still scrambling to straighten up her desk. "Okay, uh, just pretend that you're me and take them around and…hi."

Katniss' frantic instructions were cut off by the sudden presence of a tall man surrounded by four young teenagers, all of them stepping into Katniss' office.

"Here they are. Excuse me," Madge said politely, nodding to the man before breezing out of the office.

"I'm Peeta Mellark," the man said. "We talked on the phone. Nice to meet you." He extended his hand for her to shake, and she took it, trying not to blush as she met his piercing blue eyes.

"Yes, yes, I've been waiting for you. I'm Katniss Everdeen." She looked away from Peeta, willing herself to think about something other than the attractive man in front of her.

"Can I get anyone something to drink?" she asked Peeta and his students.

"Vodka martini, straight up," said a slightly pudgy boy. "Three olives, please."

"Hey, I asked you to behave," Peeta chastised, cuffing the kid on the back of the head.

"Uh, are you allowed to hit them?" Katniss asked, trying to hold in her laughter.

"Yeah, actually. Do you wanna take a swipe at him? I'll hold him if you want," Peeta joked.

"Maybe later," she smiled.

"Uh, okay. As I said on the phone, Katniss... I teach Honors English, ninth grade. And every year I pick a few promising students to meet someone who's pursued language arts as an educational discipline and has made practical use of that education. So, thanks for having us."

"Of course," she said brightly. "Let me show you around."

Katniss took the students around the office, showing them the ins and outs of her job. All of them seemed interested, and she was appreciative that none of them were acting obnoxiously.

"All right, this is where I do most of my editing," she said as they came back to her desk. "Right now, I'm working on a new book from J.K. Rowling, but I can't really reveal any details. It's not another Harry Potter book but…it's fantastic, I can tell you that."

"Now _that's_ the way to go!" a thin boy piped up.

"Yeah, and her fan base is still growing like crazy...this is a big deal for our company. Now, let me ask you a few crazy questions. Why do you write? Why do you love language arts? Why are you in Honors English? Are you ready to be consumed by writing? To dedicate your life to the art?"

"Oh my God…she knows my soul!" the plump boy whispered theatrically.

"Well then, welcome home, my friend. This is the ultimate haven of books. It doesn't get any better than this."

* * *

"She was a major hottie."

"Yeah, _major. _It was like she was…Colonel hottie."

Jackson and Mitchell's chattering elicited giggles from Rue and Cecelia.

"Yeah, she went optic for you, Mr. Mellark," Rue remarked.

"Optic?" Peeta asked, his eyebrows knitting together.

"Yeah, I saw her glance to the pants," Cecelia smiled.

"No way," he said, shaking his head. He couldn't deny that he'd thought Katniss was gorgeous, though. Her shiny dark hair, sharp grey eyes, plump pink lips, smooth olive skin…she _was_ a major hottie.

"Yeah."

"What do you mean?" Peeta asked, shaking his head slightly to stop the onslaught of inappropriate thoughts he was having about the woman he'd met only moments before.

"I mean she was totally-"

"No, no, not you. You. What did you mean?" he asked, cutting across Cecelia's words and pointing at Mitchell.

"Nothin', you know. Well, come on, man. You saw her." Mitchell looked a little sheepish as he spoke.

"What? Wait. Are you saying that she's out of my league?" Peeta asked incredulously.

"She is bringing some serious heat, man. I don't know if you got the bat speed." Jackson smirked.

"Oh, no, I got the bat speed. I got _plenty_ of bat speed. I could hit her best cheese." Peeta laughed, ushering the group of kids back on the elevator and out of the office building.

* * *

"Thom, I need those customer satisfaction data reports," Katniss said as she walked by his office a couple of hours later.

"I put them on your desk, Katniss," he replied, not looking up from his computer.

"Thank you Thom. Keep me posted, okay?"

"You got it."

"You know, those kids were cute," Katniss said to Madge as she entered her office.

"Which kids?"

"The ones from earlier today."

"Oh. Yeah. They were," Madge replied halfheartedly.

"Maybe I should become a teacher or a college professor, you know? The hours would be better. You get summers free. It's so much less competitive…"

"Oh, my God, Brutus is leaving."

"What?" Katniss rushed over to Madge's computer to see what her friend was talking about.

"Brutus is leaving the company next summer."

The girls looked at the screen in astonishment. "Do you think they're gonna bring someone in from the outside?" Katniss asked.

"Maybe. I don't know." Madge said, her eyes still wide with shock. Brutus was one of Mr. Snow's favorite employees, and the fact that he was planning on leaving the corporation was huge news.

"Or...do you think they're gonna promote from within?" Katniss smiled devilishly at the thought, already plotting a clever way to rise to the top of the corporate food chain.

"I thought you were becoming a teacher," Madge said, smirking at her.

"Low blood sugar. I didn't eat yet," she replied, turning around to get back to her own work. A familiar face sitting in one of the waiting chairs outside her office door stopped her, however, and she curiously greeted him.

"Hi," Katniss said to Peeta, once again trying not to blatantly stare at the attractive schoolteacher.

"Hi. I didn't want to interrupt. It sounded like you were involved with some major corporate hoo-ha."

She smiled at his statement. "No, no it's okay, there's just a position about to open up. Things might get mildly murderous around here."

"Ah, okay."

"Yeah. So, um…" Katniss hated the awkward lull the conversation had quickly fallen into, but she didn't know how to escape it.

"Why am I here? Um- I just wanted you to know that you really got through to the kids today. They're really juiced."

His easy smile and kind words were enough to make Katniss' knees weak. She hated how carefree she had suddenly become around this man, a stranger she barely knew.

"Oh, thanks. They were great."

"Well, you're welcome. Thank you, they'll be excited to hear that."

They fell into another odd silence, but thankfully Peeta broke it before it became too awkward.

"Look, Katniss, I also- I came back because I just- I wanted to ask you if I could ask you out sometime. Socially. I won't be bringing the kids."

She couldn't help but laugh at his words.

"Are you asking me out on a date?"

Peeta's cheeks turned pink. "Yes, I am. Would you go out with me?"

Katniss paused. She liked Peeta; he seemed like a nice guy and he was obviously interested in her, but she just couldn't go out with him, no matter how much she wanted to.

_Come on, Everdeen, _Katniss told herself. _Don't ruin things with this guy. He's different. _

"Peeta, I'm sorry…I'm just really swamped now with work, and now this new position…"

"It's okay," Peeta says, but it's obvious that he's still somewhat disappointed. "No worries. Thanks again for showing us around." He flashed Katniss one more of his brilliant smiles before quickly exiting her office.

_Damn it,_ Katniss thought. What_ did I just do?_

* * *

Hello! Thank you so much for checking out this story!

I haven't read any baseball Everlark AU stories (although there are probably some somewhere) so I thought I would try my hand at writing my own.

I'm sorry if you don't like the Giants. I hope that we can just agree to disagree and let our mutual appreciation of Everlark and the great game of baseball carry us forward. I'll keep it minimal as far as bashing other teams go, I promise.

I hope to get the next chapter out sometime very soon, hopefully before Christmas.

Thank you again, hope you enjoyed!


	2. Chapter 2

"_I would be lost without baseball. I don't think I could stand being away from it as long as I was alive.__"-Roberto Clemente_

* * *

_November 5, 2011_

"I know why she wouldn't go out with me. She thinks I'm not in her class." Peeta told his friend Thresh Granger as they lined up for a game of two-hand touch football.

"She said that?" Thresh asked incredulously. "You're one of the nicest guys I know, Peet. How could she have said anything like that?"

"She didn't say it, but I could see it on her face. 'Like I would really date a schoolteacher,'" Peeta replied, shaking his head as he got into position.

"Down, set, hike!"

Peeta took off as soon as the football was thrown into the air, intercepting the pass midair and running wildly towards the other side of the park. He channeled all of his anger and tense energy into running the ball to his team's goal, not caring who he knocked down in the process.

"Peet, what are you doing?" Darius Marshall asked. "It's two-hand touch. You were down back there. And back there and back there. What's the matter with you?" Darius gave Peeta a questioning look before turning back to the rest of the players.

Sighing, Peeta ran a hand through his hair and started back towards his friends. This Katniss thing was _way _too distracting.

"I'm sorry. Sorry, guys."

* * *

"All right, Katniss, so what's the matter with this one? He's not smart? He's not attractive?"

Katniss sighed at her friend Johanna's words.

"He was. It's just, you know…ugh. I don't know. It's hopeless."

"Oh, boy, here we go," Glimmer said, rolling her eyes.

Katniss stopped pedaling on her stationary bike. "You're right, I'm an idiot. I'm about to turn thirty and the dating market is pretty weak. And instead of becoming more open and available, I'm becoming less open."

"Come on, people!" the class' teacher, Atala yelled. "Talking isn't burning calories. Let's go. Start pedaling. Come on."

Katniss and her friends began pedaling again, all of them silent for a few moments.

"Maybe you should date a different kind of guy," Annie finally said.

"Why? What do you mean?" Katniss asked.

"Well, all the guys you date are sharp and competitive and successful. It's like you're dating yourself." Annie elaborated.

"Ding, ding, ding," Glimmer said.

"What's wrong with the schoolteacher?" Johanna asked.

"He's a schoolteacher," Glimmer said. "Which means he has a small income."

Before Katniss could respond, Atala's voice rang out through the gym again. "All right, people, let's shut your pieholes and speed it back up. Come on! Come on!"

Johanna huffed in frustration. "Die, you Nazi spin-bitch."

* * *

"Hey! Go, run a post. Go!"

Peeta prepared to throw a football to one of his students, motioning for him to run down the hallway to receive his pass. He released the ball, but instead of sailing straight to the eager students, it hit the school principal, Mrs. Coin, on the side of the head, knocking her glasses askew.

"Oh! Who did that?" she asked, her tone irritated.

_Shit. Think fast, _Peeta thought to himself.

"That's it. You're coming with me, mister," he said as he grabbed a young boy's arm. "What do you think, this is your own private playground? Get in here." Peeta pulled the poor confused kid into the school office, waving over his shoulder at Mrs. Coin as she retreated down the hallway.

As soon as he was sure the coast was clear, Peeta let go of the boy's arm. "Thanks, man. I owe you one."

The boy still seemed confused, so Peeta gave him an extra shove to head back out into the hallway. "You're good, kid. Go ahead."

"Hey, Peeta, are you going to watch the Warriors later?" Blight, the geometry teacher asked.

"Uh, I don't know," Peeta halfheartedly replied.

"You know, there are other sports besides baseball," Blight pointed out.

"I would debate you, Blight, but that would only lead to me being dragged away in handcuffs," he joked.

"Hey, speaking of baseball, Peeta, wanna help me coach the J. V. team this year?"

"Why? Boggs, you're doing a great job," Peeta told the P.E. teacher. "I mean, you can't just go by wins and losses."

"Aw, come on, Peeta. The kids listen to you," Boggs pleaded.

"I think it's going good the way it is, you know? You coach the team, and I help out when I can. Then, if I don't make it or... Hey, Cressida, when did I get this message from Katniss Everdeen?

"A tip might be where it says, 'Time Called: two thirty,'" Cressida replied, rolling her eyes. "She asked you to call her back as soon as you got the message."

Peeta thanked her and left the office without another word, quickly heading back to his classroom to return Katniss' call.

* * *

"Katniss, there's a call for you on line one."

Katniss pinched the bridge of her nose before picking up the receiver. She felt as if her day had been nothing but an endless stream of phone calls and video conferences, and it was all becoming quite tedious.

"Hello?"

"Hi Katniss, it's Peeta...Peeta Mellark."

"I can't believe you called."

Katniss couldn't stop the words from flying out of her mouth, and she felt her cheeks flush in embarrassment as soon as she'd said them.

"What makes you say that?" Peeta asked, his tone light and conversational.

"I-I just…nevermind. I'm just surprised you want anything to do with me is all."

"Of course I do," he replied. "You should have seen my face when our secretary told me you'd called. It was…mildly embarrassing if I'm being honest."

Peeta's self-deprecating humor elicited a rare laugh from her. "Well, anyway, thank you for returning my call. I'll understand if you say no, but I just wanted to ask…if you're free on Friday night, maybe we can get together? I know this great place not far from my apartment, and I thought maybe we could try it. You know, if you wanted. But if not, that's okay too. I get it. It's really fine if you…"

"Katniss."

"Yeah?"

"I'd love to see you Friday night."

"Really?" she asked, once again surprised by this man who seemed to be made of nothing but goodness.

"Of course," he said. "What's your address? I'll pick you up."

"So, do you think it'll be a problem that you're more successful than him?" Annie asked Katniss over a margarita.

"Who says I am?" she replied, taking a gulp of her own drink.

"Well, I mean, at least financially," she clarified.

"It's not like he's playing a flute with a hatful of dollar bills in front of him. He's a teacher." Katniss said. She didn't know why she felt the need to defend Peeta, a guy she still didn't know very well, but she did. Her relationship with Peeta was affecting her behavior, and she hated it.

"Teaching's a cool thing," Johanna said as she took a large bite of her cheese-laden chip.

"Yeah. Besides, why does everything in my life have to be a trophy? I mean, who am I trying to impress?" Katniss reasoned.

Glimmer wasn't convinced, though. "I don't know, Katniss. I mean, don't you think it's going to be hard for you? Face it—you like competition, and you've already got this guy beat, at least when it comes to professional success."

"Give her a break, Glim," Annie said.

"Yeah," Johanna agreed. "If he's what you want, go for it Kat."

"I think it'll be great," Katniss said. "Peeta's one of the nicest guys I've ever met, and I'm not going to let our jobs get in the way of our happiness."

"I'll drink to that!" Johanna cried, lifting up her bottle of Dos Equis. The girls all laughed, clinking their glasses together happily.

* * *

"Got a hot date tonight, little bro?"

Peeta jumped at the sound of his older brother's voice.

"Damn it, Rye! I thought I told you to quit sneaking up on me!"

Rye just laughed. "You did. I just love to see the look on your face when I do it."

Sighing, Peeta finished packing the cheese buns he'd made for Katniss into a paper bag.

"It's not really any of your business, but yes, I am going on a date tonight. How did you know?"

His brother snorted. "Poor girl. She's probably desperate if she agreed to go on a date with wittle Peety. And how do I know? I know because you look like you're about to shit your pants. You only get that look when you're going out with a girl."

"Fuck off," Peeta said, his cheeks flushing pink in embarrassment. His brother laughed again and mercifully left the bakery's back room. Peeta quickly cleaned up the mess he'd made while making the cheese buns, wanting to make sure he got to Katniss' apartment on time.

He hung up his apron and exited the kitchen, bidding his dad a quick goodbye before rushing out the bakery's front door. Peeta got into his old 4-Runner that he'd parked in front of the bakery, taking off as quickly as he could.

Peeta ran into a horrible amount of traffic on his way to Katniss' apartment. He was thankful that he'd left the bakery a little early, since Bay Area traffic could be absolutely horrific, especially on Friday afternoons.

He was relieved to finally arrive at Katniss' apartment building. Peeta squeezed his SUV into one of the building's tiny parking spaces and got out of his car, steeling his nerves.

_She's the one who asked _you _out this time, Mellark, _he counseled himself. _Get up there._

Katniss' apartment building was old, so he had to wait an agonizing five minutes for the practically prehistoric elevator to take him up to the twelfth floor, where she lived.

Once he finally found her apartment, he took a deep breath and rang the doorbell, hoping for the best.

* * *

"Oh, just kill me. Just take a hammer and kill me."

Katniss sighed as the loud doorbell rang throughout her apartment.

"Oh, shit. Who is it?"

"I-It's me. It's Peeta. Your date?"

_Damn it_, Katniss thought. She'd been sick ever since she met up with her friends for lunch earlier that day, and had completely forgotten about her date with Peeta.

She dragged herself over to the door and flung it open. "I'm sick," she explained to Peeta. "Come back. I'll call you tomorrow."

Just as she shut the door, he held it open with one arm. "Wait, wait, wait. What kind of sick? Are you okay? Are you in pain?" He sounded genuinely concerned, something that Katniss wasn't used to hearing from any guy.

"I—I ate at this new place. I think…" Before she could finish her sentence, she threw a hand over her mouth and dashed off to her bathroom, leaving Peeta alone in her doorway.

"Are you faking it?" Peeta asked, wincing slightly at the sound of Katniss' vomiting. "'Cause we don't have to really do this if you don't-" His words were cut off by another round of Katniss' retching, and he sighed. He entered her apartment, setting down the bag of cheese buns and closing the door before heading to her bathroom to help her.

"All right, here we go," he said as the pair hobbled over to Katniss' bed. "Come on. All right, we're almost there. Okay. Okay. Now sit right here."

Katniss flopped back onto her bed, wishing that she hadn't gotten sick on those damn fajitas she'd eaten earlier. She was embarrassed that this man, this attractive, sweet man, was taking care of her, the sickly, disheveled woman.

That was another thing Katniss wasn't used to. Being taken care of.

"All right. Okay. Here. Pick your head up. Okay, up. Uh, all right. Um- Do you have any, like, pajamas or a nightgown?" he asked, his voice a little higher suddenly.

"In the top drawer," Katniss mumbled, pointing towards her dresser.

"Top drawer. Okay. All right, here we go," he said, pulling out a striped pajama set.

"Okay. I'll help you up." Peeta gently lifted Katniss off of the bed and held her up so she was standing upright.

"I'm sorry about this," she said, feeling a blush rise to her cheeks as she leaned on him for support.

"Don't worry," he assured her. "It's okay. I've got you."

"I'm so sorry," Katniss apologized again.

"It's okay. I'm gonna help you change, all right? I won't look. I promise," Peeta told her.

"Okay," she agreed, lifting up her arms for Peeta to remove the dress she'd been wearing earlier.

"Alright, alright, I looked," Peeta admitted with a sheepish smile, and Katniss couldn't help but laugh a little as he said so.

"Let's get these on. Get your arms through." Peeta tried to keep his breathing under control as he helped Katniss into her pajamas. He felt horrible for being turned on by her body while she was so sick, but he couldn't help it. Trying to quell his growing arousal, he buttoned up Katniss' pajama top and held her steady as she stuck her legs through the matching bottoms.

"You're gonna be okay," Peeta said soothingly as he laid Katniss back on her bed. "There's nothing left to throw up, I promise. And if you do, here's Mr. Hamper. Okay?" He smoothed back a few stray tendrils of hair that had escaped from her braid, admiring the soft smile that appeared on Katniss' face as a result of his action.

"Thank you. Thank you, Peeta," Katniss sighed, leaning back on her pillow and succumbing to exhaustion.

* * *

"Hey."

Katniss' greeting made Peeta jump awake, slightly disoriented from sleep as he took in his surroundings.

"Hi. How are you feeling?" he asked her, his eyes raking over her disheveled pajama-clad form with concern.

"Uh, I mean, I'm not about to enter any pie-eating contests, but…I'm alright."

"That's good to hear," he said, running a hand through his mop of blonde curls in a hopeless attempt to flatten them.

"Um…did you clean up my bathroom, or did I dream that?" Katniss asked, biting her lip.

Peeta laughed. "Me? No. The vomit elves came in. They were really adorable…with their little caps and barf bags."

She smiled. "Well…thank you, Peeta. You really didn't have to do that for me. That was very kind of you."

"No, please. It wasn't a big deal. You were very ladylike. Hardly any chunkage." Peeta said.

"What's in the bag?" Katniss asked, not really wanting to talk about her embarrassing illness any longer.

"I went out last night and rented some movies for when you woke up. Not for when you woke up. I knew you were going to wake up. In case you woke up in the middle of the night," he said, nervous in front of this attractive woman once again.

"Yeah? Anything good?" she teased playfully.

"Uh, mostly animated pornography from Japan," Peeta joked. "And a little something I like to watch when I feel sick."

"Well, for me, it's Pretty Woman," Katniss said.

"Wh-What did you say?" he asked.

"Pretty Woman…you know. With Richard Gere and Julia Roberts?"

"Whoa, this is like-this is unbelievable," Peeta said, shaking his head as he pulled a movie out of the bag. "Mine is Road House."

Katniss laughed. Peeta's sense of humor was a breath of fresh air that she'd really lacked in her life.

"Are you feeling this? Isn't this crazy? I mean, what are the odds? Spooky."

"So, are you still up for a date? I mean, after this, I wouldn't really blame you if you weren't…"

Peeta just smiled his easy smile. "Of course. If you're hungry now, I can take you to my family's bakery for breakfast. It'll be like a…do-over."

"That sounds perfect," Katniss said. "…right after I change."

* * *

Thank you all for the amazing response to the first chapter! I was stunned to see the interest from you all in this story, but it was great to see. Thank you for giving this story a chance.

I hope to have the next chapter out soon, but with the holidays, it probably won't be for a few days.

I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and that you have a spectacular holiday!


	3. Chapter 3

_Baseball is the only field of endeavor where a man can succeed three times out of ten and be considered a good performer. -Ted Williams_

* * *

_November 11, 2011_

"No, she cannot have my assistant. Why? I trained Madge. I like her. Listen. Do we have to settle this now? I'm with…someone. Yes. Thank you. Okay, I'll speak to you tomorrow. Bye."

Sighing, Katniss jabbed the 'end call' button on her cell phone, shoving the annoying gadget back into her purse. "I'm really, really sorry," she said to Peeta.

"Actually, I'm sorry. I ate everything cool. The only thing left is cheese buns and wine," he said, motioning towards the picnic basket resting on the grass in front of them.

"It's okay. Those buns are to die for," she replied, rummaging through the basket and pulling out a few of them to enjoy. Katniss procured a wine glass from the basket and pulled it out, grabbing the bottle of merlot she'd brought for them to share. She poured herself a glass and sat back on the grass closer to Peeta, looking out over the San Francisco bay with him in comfortable silence for a few moments.

"I really appreciate you being cool about the phone thing," Katniss said as she took a bite of a cheese bun. "I once went on a date with this guy who got so angry I was on the phone that he grabbed it out of my hand threw it in the fish tank."

Peeta frowned. "I would never do that."

_I'd never hurt you, _he thought, biting his tongue to keep from saying it aloud.

Katniss smiled at his words. "What are your pet peeves? What stresses you out?" she asked, taking a sip of her Merlot.

"Well-"

"And I'm only asking because frankly the men I meet are highly…I date poodles, basically. And I'm really relaxed, you know? Totally."

As soon as the words had left her mouth, Katniss' cellphone started to ring again.

"Son of a _bitch_!" she hissed, digging through her purse and pulling out the offending object. "_Stop_ ringing!"

"I got it," Peeta said, gently prying the phone out of Katniss' hands. "Let me do it."

She reluctantly let him take her phone, eyeing him warily as he answered it.

"Hello?" he said into the receiver. "Uh, no, she isn't available right now. May I take a message? This is Peeta. I'm her houseboy/sex slave. Okay. You betcha. Bye-bye."

He handed Katniss' phone back to her with a satisfactory smile, admiring the embarrassed flush that had appeared on her cheeks.

"Call your sister," he laughed.

Katniss laughed with him, a rare smile making its way onto her face. Peeta watched her in awe, not able to believe how lucky he'd gotten when he'd met her.

"I can empathize with your hatred of cellphones, though. I got rid of mine a couple of years ago," Peeta said, refilling their wine glasses.

Her eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Wait, wait, wait. You _don't_ have a cell phone?" she asked Peeta incredulously.

"Nope," he answered, smiling at the shocked look on her face.

"But what if some sudden crisis occurs...like your father has a heart attack or something?" she questioned.

"My father died two years ago," he said, a hint of sadness seeping into his tone.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Katniss replied.

"I just found out this morning, so it's been a rough 24 hours. You know, maybe I should get a cell phone," Peeta joked.

"You're funny, Peeta…" Katniss trailed off.

He just looked at her, a smirk forming on his lips. "…Mellark."

"Mellark. Yeah," she said, trying to nod nonchalantly, but failing miserably.

"You forgot my last name," he said, shaking his head with a smile.

"No, I just blanked," Katniss tried to defend herself.

"I know why you forgot. It's all right. I bet when you talk to your friends, you call me Peeta the schoolteacher, am I right?"

"Well...yeah," she admitted sheepishly. "What do you call me to your friends?"

Peeta looked over at her, his eyes soft. He brushed some of her loose hair back behind her shoulder, reaching up to cup her cheek in his hand.

"I call you Katniss...the vomit girl," he said, pulling his hand away with a grin. "Katniss the Puker, Pukey. My friends say, 'You going out with Pukey tonight?' I'm like, 'Yeah. Why? You wanna play video games or something?' I'm like, 'I can't, I'm going out with Pukey.'"

"That's horrible," Katniss giggled.

"Anything I've said about you would be an understatement, really," Peeta admitted shyly.

Katniss' smile grew at his words. She leaned over closer to him and grabbed his hand, lacing her fingers with his.

"My friend Annie and her husband Finnick are having a party tonight. Would you…would you like to come with me?" she asked.

It was Peeta's turn to smile like a fool.

"There's nothing I'd love more," he replied.

* * *

"Hey, Katniss!"

Katniss smiled at her three best friends and their spouses, grabbing Peeta's hand and leading him towards the small group.

"Hi guys," she said, suddenly shy under the curious gaze of her friends.

"Hi, I'm Peeta the schoolteacher," Peeta said, extending his hand to Finnick to shake.

"I'm Finnick, and this is my wife, Annie."

"I'm Castor, this is Johanna," he said, also shaking Peeta's proffered hand.

"Glimmer...and Marvel." Glimmer shook Peeta's hand as she introduced her husband, who nodded to Peeta in greeting.

"Welcome aboard," Castor said with a smile.

"Well, let's start the interrogation," Peeta joked.

"No, no, it's not like that," Annie smiled.

"Here," Finnick said, handing Peeta a shot glass. "It's for the urine sample."

"Shoot, I wish you would have told me," Peeta said with a shake of his head. "I just took a whiz in your bushes."

Kantiss laughed at Peeta's joke along with her friends, thankful that everyone seemed to be getting along.

"Well, the three of us will show him the house," Finnick said, motioning to himself, Castor and Marvel. "Catch up with you later, ladies."

Peeta kissed Katniss' cheek before following the three men into a different part of the house, causing her friends to smile and giggle with excitement.

"Katniss, this Peeta guy has _such_ a good vibe," Annie gushed.

"And even better, he's nothing like the guys you usually date," Johanna added.

"Well, I'm really glad you guys feel this way...because if you didn't, I was gonna have to find three new friends," Katniss joked.

"No, no, no, I really think you've got something here," Annie replied.

"Me too," Johanna agreed.

"Yeah, but... something's not quite right," Glimmer said.

"Glimmer!" Johanna hissed.

"No, no, he's great," she said. "He's a doll. But he's not 22."

"So?" Katniss asked.

"So, where's he been? Why is he still on the market?" Glimmer questioned.

"Um…" Katniss struggled to respond to Glimmer's harsh questions.

"Maybe he hasn't found the right person yet," Annie defended Katniss.

"Well, by now he should be with the wrong person," Glimmer said. "How has he not been tranquilized and tagged?"

* * *

"Let me get this straight," Finnick said to Peeta. "You've got two season tickets behind the Giants dugout?"

"Yeah. My uncle left them to me when he passed away," Peeta explained, smiling at the incredulous looks on their faces.

"Behind the dugout?" Castor asked again, his expression pained.

"Yeah. Well, not really behind, like next to it. It's fifteen feet away. You can see right into it at a certain point. It's pretty awesome."

"Let me ask you this," Marvel said. "Do you find my wife attractive at all? 'Cause we could work something out."

Finnick, Castor and Marvel all roared with laughter, and Peeta uncertainly joined them.

"Well, do you?" Marvel asked, his serious tone throwing Peeta for a loop.

"Um, well…she's…."

The three friends laughed again, harder this time. Marvel clapped Peeta on the shoulder.

"You're all right, man. You're all right."

"Alright, alright, let's stay on topic, Castor said with a smile. "Peeta, how long have you had your tickets for?" he asked.

"About eleven years now," Peeta replied. "It just gets better and better every year."

"When they drove Willie Mays onto the field at the All-Star Game..." Finnick trailed off, his tone wistful.

"I was there," Peeta confirmed. "I was 10 feet away from him. Old men were crying. And I mean _tough_ old guys. I even started to lose it, you know. I got a program. I could show you."

Castor and Finnick sighed defeatedly. Marvel just shook his head, words failing him for the first time in a long time.

"If Katniss ever breaks up with you, I'll kill her."

* * *

"You know what you need to do? You need to go to his apartment and go through his things," Glimmer said as she poured her friends a glass of wine. "You need to go through his closets, his sofa cushions. You need to get on his computer."

"And what exactly am I looking for?" Katniss asked, thanking her friend for the drink with a nod.

"Anything that explains why he's still single," Glimmer answered, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"My company can run a credit check on him," Annie said, nodding her head.

"You know, he could be a deadbeat dad," Johanna mused.

"You guys are insane. Thirty minutes ago we were all discussing how great Peeta is," she said, taking a sip of her drink.

"Katniss, do you remember that guy Fulvia Cardew went out with?" Glimmer asked.

"Uh, sort of. Why?" Katniss answered.

"Titus what's-his-name? We all thought he was great too." She said.

"Well, what happened?" Katniss asked.

"Oh, my God. She went to his apartment and-"

"Shh. My story. Stand by."

Glimmer cut off Annie's excited speech with her harsh words, punctuated with a cold stare. Annie just rolled her eyes as Glimmer continued.

"She's at his place. He's in the shower. She wants to make the bed, so she goes to the closet. Guess what she finds."

"Oh, I don't know. What'd she find?" Katniss asked, trying to suppress an eye roll.

"She found two large plastic bags containing all the hair and nail clippings from his entire life."

"Eww!" Katniss exclaimed, wrinkling her nose.

"That's a true story," Johanna said.

"I'm telling you, there is a reason this Peeta guy is still single," Glimmer told Katniss. "It's up to you to get to the bottom of it."

* * *

"Thanks again for having us!" Peeta said as he led a slightly tipsy Katniss out of Finnick and Annie's home.

"Anytime," Finnick replied, wrapping an arm around his wife's waist.

"We'll see you soon!" Annie said with a wave.

Peeta took Katniss' hand as he led her out to his car. "That went well," he said cheerfully. "Your friends are great."

Katniss squeezed his hand. "Yeah. They liked you."

"I liked them too," he told her honestly.

Peeta was relieved at how his evening had gone. He really liked Katniss, and having her friends approve of him made him feel great.

He opened the passenger door of his car for Katniss, snickering as she slipped slightly while clambering into the old SUV.

"You okay?" he asked, trying not to laugh.

Katniss stuck her tongue out at him. "Not all of us are as perfect as you, Mellark."

He just smiled and shut her door, quickly circling around to the other side of his car. He buckled his seatbelt and pulled out of Annie and Finnick's driveway, doing his best to navigate around the crowded city of San Francisco.

Katniss fell asleep soon after they left the party. Peeta was glad that he'd been around to take her home-she was obviously tired, and he didn't like the idea of her going home alone at this time of night.

When they finally arrived at Katniss' apartment, she seemed embarrassed to have fallen asleep on the ride home.

"I'm terrible," she said as a blush formed on her cheeks. "I didn't mean to fall asleep, so I'm-"

Peeta cut off her rambling with a spontaneous kiss. Katniss let out a surprised sigh before reciprocating happily. The kiss was soft and slow, an indication of Peeta's feelings for her. He wanted nothing more than to have his way with her in the back seat of his car right now, pleasuring her until she saw stars, but he also wanted to give her more than that. He wanted a real relationship with her, and he was willing to do things on her terms, not based on his primal desires and urges.

When they finally broke apart, Katniss looked down at her lap, her cheeks once again flushed and her smile bright. Peeta tilted her chin up to meet his gaze, holding it in place as he smiled at her.

"You're incredible," he said, his words intensifying the blush that adorned her cheeks. "Come on, I'll walk you up."

Once they reached her apartment, Peeta awkwardly cleared his throat. "Thank you for inviting me tonight, Katniss. I had a great time."

She smiled. "So did I."

"Maybe we can do it again sometime?" he asked, hoping she didn't notice how his voice seemed to have jumped an octave higher than it normally was.

It was Katniss' turn to surprise him as she stood on her tiptoes and pulled his mouth down to meet hers. Peeta almost instantaneously got over his shock and wrapped an arm around her waist, his other hand gently grasping the back of her head and the silky curls of her hair. He gasped slightly when her tongue ran along his lower lip, but he opened his mouth nonetheless.

_How did Katniss get so damn good at kissing? _Peeta wondered as they continued to make out. _S__he must have had a lot of practice, because this is fucking amazing._

The thought of Katniss kissing anyone other than him made Peeta's stomach roil with jealousy. He shoved the unpleasant thoughts away, focusing on making Katniss satisfied. His efforts must have paid off, because Katniss let out an appreciative moan as he deepened their kiss.

The couple breathlessly pulled apart then, both of them grinning like fools.

"There's nothing I'd love more," Katniss said, giving Peeta one last peck on the lips before dashing into her apartment.

* * *

Thank you all so much for your incredible response to the last chapter! Your feedback has been great, and I can't thank you enough.

I apologize for the wait for this chapter. I hope to have the next installment out before Monday, since I have to go back to school then.

Happy New Year to you all!


End file.
